Launched during the first week of May 2014 the Amboseli Mobile Veterinary Unit is now one of four full-time veterinary units funded and operated by the DSWT in partnership with the Kenya Wildlife Service.  This unit is dedicated to providing permanent veterinary support within the Southern Conservation Area including the Chyulu Hills as well as the Kajiado and Magadi areas whilst being based within Amboseli National Park.

Working closely with the Tsavo Mobile Veterinary Unit, the DSWT’s aerial surveillance unit and the anti-poaching teams based at Kaluku in Tsavo East, Dr Njoroge and his team are settling well into their new responsibilities.  The unit has already attended several wildlife cases during the month, becoming familiar with the Amboseli ecosystem, which is famous for large herds of elephants and its panoramic views of African’s highest mountain, Mt Kilimanjaro.  Amboseli National Park is just under 400km2 in size at the core of an 8,000 square kilometres ecosystem which spreads across the Kenya-Tanzania border.

Dr Njoroge was chosen from the Kenya Wildlife Service’s pool of experienced field veterinary officers based in Nairobi and is excited to be part of this new team, which also includes two KWS animal capture rangers and a driver.  With a new LandCruiser donated by the Samuel J. and Ethel LeFrak Charitable Trust, who are also generously funding the unit’s first year of operation, the team in months to come will travel thousands of kilometres in an effort to treat and hopefully save the lives of countless wild animals.

You can read more about the unit and about Dr Njoroge on the DSWT’s veterinary pages http://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/mobilevet/index_new.asp#unit-4